The construction of a second railway between Türkiye and Bulgaria will increase the potential of the Middle Corridor, Türkiye's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said at the World Bank video conference Realizing the Trade and Logistics Potential of the Middle Corridor, Report informs.
Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu emphasized that taking into account the growing potential of the Bulgarian railways, Türkiye and Bulgaria signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the creation of a second railway. With its advent, the capacity of freight traffic from east to west will increase, and it will also make a significant contribution to the railway potential of the Middle Corridor.
The Turkish minister noted that the modernization of the existing railway infrastructure as part of the project for the reconstruction of the Divrigi-Kars railway, which is a continuation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, will strengthen communications between East and West and increase the capacity of this route.
The minister also added that a new railway will be built in eastern Türkiye, which will connect the future Zangazur corridor with the Turkish national railway network.
“This road, together with the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, will finally form the Middle Corridor,” he said.
Uraloglu emphasized that the Middle Corridor, which serves as an important bridge between East and West, carries unique prospects for economic growth for the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus and even for the countries of the Middle East.
“In addition to increasing cargo flows between landlocked Central Asian countries, their access points to global trade will be diversified. Türkiye remains committed to developing and strengthening the Middle Corridor and is making efforts to increase trade and cooperation among countries in the region,” - stated the minister.
He added that in Türkiye by 2053, the share of rail cargo transportation is planned to increase to 22% of the total volume of cargo transportation by various modes of transport.
“In this regard, we will transfer part of the cargo from road transport to rail and provide additional capacity necessary for container transportation of goods along the Middle Corridor,” he said.
The Middle Corridor was created in February 2014 with the participation of the relevant structures of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia. Later, Ukraine, Romania and Poland joined the project. Currently, the route starts from the Chinese-Kazakh border and passes through the territory of Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia to Europe. A single tariff has been created for the entire route, and the “single window” principle applies.